Best self-teach learning resources
Robert Kinley
ground up. IOW basic analog and digital design principles, excluding
RF, micros, etc.
It's been a long time since I started out. Apart from formal
education, what are the most effective and relevant learning aids
available today?
Particular books, DVD course ... or? How should I advise he proceed?
Robert Kinley
D from BC
I'd hire someone to teach me :P
D from BC
Amateur smps designer
British Columbia, Canada
Posted to sci.electronics.design
Rich Webb
Kinley) wrote:
"The Art of Electronics" and the companion student manual.
<http://frank.harvard.edu/aoe/>
This is NOT an electronics for dummies book; no illustrations with
charming stick figures running along a wire carrying "buckets of charge"
or the like (I don't have my copy handy, so of course the probability of
exactly that illustration appearing on page 1 approaches unity) but
investing the time to understand the book and do the exercises will pay
off.
Be advised that the third edition is anticipated Real Soon Now,
undoubtedly appearing the day after Mr Someone gets their copy of the
second edition. So, tell Someone to hurry up and order!
--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA
George Herold
> On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:45:25 GMT, robertkin...@operat.com (Robert
I've heard Physics Prof's who are trying to teach their students a bit
of electronics complain that AoE is not the best book for a first
introduction. (Sorry I don't have any better recommendation.)
To OP, if you go this route I would definitely recommend that they get
the student lab manual that goes with AoE. If they work through that
they will learn something!
George H.
Rich Webb
<gghe...@gmail.com> wrote:
>I've heard Physics Prof's who are trying to teach their students a bit
>of electronics complain that AoE is not the best book for a first
>introduction. (Sorry I don't have any better recommendation.)
>To OP, if you go this route I would definitely recommend that they get
>the student lab manual that goes with AoE. If they work through that
>they will learn something!
Yup, I agree that it's may not be not the best in an absolute frame of
reference but really good alternatives aren't thick on the ground,
either.
And for self-study, yes, the student manual is a must-have. That will
require access to some test equipment and a few components, of course,
but there's no substitute for seeing what "really happens."
Tim Williams
For absolute beginners, some books by Forrest M. Mims III are a good start.
I fondly remember that green book which got so ratty from use.
Tim
--
Deep Friar: a very philosophical monk.
Website: http://webpages.charter.net/dawill/tmoranwms
"Rich Webb" <bbe...@mapson.nozirev.ten> wrote in message
news:ka5dg5h7i4dduqdgh...@4ax.com...
Rich Grise
> On Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:09:57 -0800 (PST), George Herold
>
>>electronics complain that AoE is not the best book for a first
>>introduction. (Sorry I don't have any better recommendation.) To OP, if
>>you go this route I would definitely recommend that they get the student
>>lab manual that goes with AoE. If they work through that they will learn
>>something!
>
> Yup, I agree that it's may not be not the best in an absolute frame of
> reference but really good alternatives aren't thick on the ground, either.
>
> And for self-study, yes, the student manual is a must-have. That will
> require access to some test equipment and a few components, of course, but
> there's no substitute for seeing what "really happens."
A protoboard and junque box should be required like books. :-)
Cheers!
Rich
Jon Kirwan
What's effective will depend in some fair measure upon past education
and aptitudes. What's relevant depends on what interests their are...
again, quite personal. But truly, the most effective and relevant
education will likely come from trained friends and closer associates
who can engage in a two-way dialog of learning. Hopefully, that is
available. I didn't have access to either formal training or friends
and I know, first hand, it's a veritable pain in the butt.
The Art of Electronics, 2nd edition, should be used together with its
Student Manual -- for self-education uses. In some areas for someone
doing self-study, there simply isn't enough worked out in the main
volume. It covers a great deal, but in most cases expects there is a
teacher and classroom setting to expand the material and engage it. Or
it certainly seems to require it. However, much of that is saved by
the Student Manual. For example, the student manual goes into a
detailed, step-by-step organized, design of a common emitter BJT
amplifier. Something left out of the book, itself.
A good math background is almost a must for parts of AofE. Some of
the concepts are quickly glossed over in the book, such as Euler's and
it's application with complex numbers used in electronics. For
someone with a sufficient math background, that's all that is needed.
It's already pretty well understand, in detail, and all that is needed
is the hand-waving found in AofE to make sense of it. But for someone
with none of that in hand, it's just random noise and will simply pass
right over their heads.
This is still just a hobby for me. But as a teenager, someone gave me
some manuals from the military that were designed to teach electronics
to soldiers and were written, I think, in either the 1940's or 1950's.
They were pretty good, as I recall. VERY THICK! Lots of them, too. A
few feet along a shelf. I think I remember seeing something similar
in a variety of PDF chapters, available on the web. Might try looking
for them. (I apologize for not taking the time to search, right now.)
MIT has open courseware on the web. It's quite likely electronics is
part of that. See:
http://ocw.mit.edu/OcwWeb/web/home/home/index.htm
...
I haven't read this one (and it is scanned in and HUGE), but it was
supposedly a good, early book (100 years ago, or so):
http://danielwebb.us/projects/pd_tech_books/
http://danielwebb.us/projects/pd_tech_books/the_boy_electrician.pdf
A smaller scan of a 1943 version is at:
http://rawfire.torche.com/~opcom/tbe/the_boy_electrician.pdf
Early books often were targeted at self-education, which is why I
suggest looking in that direction, too.
Best of luck in all this.
Also, if possible, connect up with a local community college class.
The teachers are often there because they _want_ to teach this
material. (They darned well aren't there to work on pet projects via
grant programs.) It's usually "dumbed down" because that's where a
lot of their clientele is at -- community colleges are complaining
that their students' first year is mostly spent in remedial education,
in my state. But I've seen some very good teachers doing a wonderful
job getting across somewhat complex things (matrix methods for solving
linear component circuits) to students generally ill-prepared for them
and doing it successfully.
Jon
Joel Koltner
at practicing engineers than those in the U.S. are. This means that while you
miss out on some of the deeper theory you find in, e.g., Sedra & Smith, you do
get more design-oriented lessons than what The Art of Electronics has. (The
U.S. model still seems to be, "we teach you theory in school, you learn
practice from your employer" whereas the UK model is a more mixed approach?)
> Also, if possible, connect up with a local community college class.
> The teachers are often there because they _want_ to teach this
> material. (They darned well aren't there to work on pet projects via
> grant programs.)
That's for sure... community colleges aren't that many notches up on the
payscale from, e.g., social workers helping the indigent. They also have the
benefit that the administration doesn't require PhD "qualifications" to teach
Circuit Theory 101.
You've probably seen the news today about students at the University of
California protesting tuition hikes (e.g.,
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jEIwDer2BxXtFipmnIaOR43_RoUA).
I'm quite convinced that if you have a pretty focused subject area such as PC
or embedded software development, digital or analog circuit design, etc., one
could come up with a school that costs far less and requies less time to
complete than a traditional college, while simultaneously producing
more-qualified (on average) students. The trick would be to get such a place
accredited by, e.g., ABET so that the students could actually get jobs when
they graduated. (Grumble, grumble...)
---Joel
JosephKK
Just searched for 3rd edition, seems it has already been pirated.
Jon Kirwan
I seem to recall that Winfield Hill asked us to pass along a copy to
him, if that happened. I think he wanted the help!
Jon